House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-11-18 Daily Xml

Contents

Port Adelaide

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (15:08): My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. Does the government remain committed to moving 7,500 square metres of government office space to Port Adelaide and, if so, when does the minister envisage that this will take place?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister Assisting the Minister for Planning, Minister Assisting the Minister for Housing and Urban Development) (15:08): I think our commitment was to move 500 public servants down there. As for the square metreage, I would have to take that on advice. The figure of 7,500, off the top of my head, does ring a bell but it will depend on what solution is provided by the private sector in providing a building which is capable of housing that many public servants.

I should add, as a bit of background for this, that I am advised reliably by a very active local member for Port Adelaide that this was an initiative which came out of a very large public consultation which occurred in October 2012. Along with other ideas such as the refurbishment of the precinct around Hart's Mill, improving parking and the traffic treatments on St Vincent Street, improving parking and traffic treatments on Commercial Road, and improving some of the heritage buildings such as the Visitor Information Centre and also Customs House, these projects, funded by government (some jointly, in part, by the City of Port Adelaide Enfield) demonstrate a very strong commitment to the Port and also to the precincts which surround the Inner Harbour of Port Adelaide. That has been an ongoing focus of this government. We demonstrated that through—

The SPEAKER: I think the minister has more than adequately answered the question.